Cross the Songhu battlefield and rise to become the most powerful warlord

681 Know the inside story

"Lao Luo, this is the wrong way to fight.

According to your post-war report, your battle lasted three months from start to finish.

The ammunition consumed alone has already caught up with the total amount of ammunition we consumed in our last battle to encircle and annihilate the Japanese 15th Army.

But how come only less than 20,000 Japanese soldiers were wiped out?

That’s not all. Why are our losses more than twice that of the Japanese?

Not counting the more than 20,000 casualties of our expeditionary force, how come the British lost more than 50,000 people?

The British don't take the lives of the Indian soldiers in their colonies seriously?"

Ye Qingshan said this and looked at Luo Zhuoying.

Luo Zhuoying was drinking water. After hearing Ye Qingshan's question, he put down the cup and couldn't help but sigh.

"Old Ye, this is a long story.

Besides, the situation inside is very complicated.”

Luo Zhuoying also seemed to have something to hide.

The first thing Ye Qingshan thought of was that it might be the headquarters that was causing trouble again.

Stilwell's command ability was supposed to be okay.

This battle shouldn't have ended like this.

Although, in the end the Allied forces won, the Japanese 25th Army commanded by Yamashita Tomoyuki completely withdrew from Burma and retreated to Siam.

However, the Japanese did not suffer too many losses in this battle, only about 20,000 people.

In the end, it seemed more like the Japs retreated on their own initiative.

The main force of the Japanese 25th Army under Yamashita Tomoyuki did not suffer too much damage and still posed a huge threat.

Ye Qingshan really wanted to find out what the reason was.

So, he looked at Luo Zhuoying and said seriously: "It's okay, I have plenty of time.

You can start from the beginning.”

According to Ye Qingshan's plan, he would take back the position of commander of the expeditionary force.

Then he must figure it out now.

What is going on in Myanmar at this moment?

Why did this battle turn out like this and where did the problem lie?

Is it a problem with the Expeditionary Force, or a problem with Stilwell, or a problem with the high command, or the British?

Only after figuring out the reason can Ye Qingshan find a solution later.

Luo Zhuoying saw that he couldn't fool Ye Qingshan, so he knew that even if he didn't say anything today.

Sooner or later we will have to tell you.

Luo Zhuoying simply took the risk and prepared to tell Ye Qingshan the whole story.

Let Ye Qingshan solve the subsequent troubles.

Anyway, he had no choice.

"Old Ye, there are many reasons for the situation you mentioned.

I'll tell you one by one."

"First of all, our army suffered much greater losses than the Japanese in this battle.

The main reason was that the old devil Yamashita Tomoyuki took advantage of the time when our Expeditionary Force and the British Army were expanding.

In the southern Yangon area, a large number of solid defensive fortresses were built with the help of mountains and rivers.

After General Stilwell launched a new offensive, we, as the attacking party, naturally needed to eliminate the Japanese's solid underground fortifications one by one.

As the attacking party, it is normal for us to suffer heavy casualties.

Fortunately, it is our expeditionary force, which now has three reorganized artillery divisions, and its firepower is much stronger than before.

With the assistance of bombers, we were able to keep casualties in the attack to around 20,000.

If the Americans hadn't provided so many artillery pieces to provide fire support,

But it is impossible for our soldiers to conquer the bunkers and fortifications built by the devils."

Ye Qingshan listened quietly.

There is nothing wrong with what Luo Zhuoying said.

The casualties on the attacking side on the battlefield are indeed greater.

In addition, the 25th Army under the command of the old devil Yamashita Tomoyuki is the elite among the devil's southern army.

It is indeed not easy to storm their defensive positions.

"As for the British, why did they suffer such a huge loss?

That's because the old devil Yamashita Tomoyuki seemed to understand that the British army was easier to bully than our expeditionary force.

Therefore, the old Japanese soldier Yamashita Tomoyuki was involved in the offensive and defensive battle between the two sides.

The only two counterattacks launched were both directed against the British army.

As a result, the British army suffered heavy losses in the two counterattacks of the Japanese.

If our expeditionary force had not come to our aid in time, the British would have suffered even greater losses."

Having said that, Luo Zhuoying looked at Ye Qingshan and said with emotion: "Old Ye.

What you said at the beginning made a lot of sense.

These little Japanese devils are really bullies who only pick on the weak and fear the strong.

It’s because you commanded our expeditionary force last time and inflicted heavy losses on the Japanese.

Devoured their 15th Army.

This is why the old Japanese devil Yamashita Tomoyuki did not dare to easily counterattack our expeditionary force this time.

Then they turned around and started bullying the British.

But these British guys were not up to the task and were defeated every time by the Japanese's counterattacks.

Even so, the British continued to draw two groups of native British veterans with rich combat experience from the front line, and the rest were all a group of colonial curry soldiers.

I don't know what the British are thinking.

That's it. It would be strange if we weren't beaten up by the Japanese.

Stilwell was so angry that he lost his temper every day during that period."

Listening to Luo Zhuoying's complaints, Ye Qingshan couldn't help but laugh out loud.

“The British’s hometown was almost captured by the German army some time ago.

It would be strange if they didn’t frantically recall veterans from overseas.”

Ye Qingshan then told Luo Zhuoying about what happened some time ago when the German army crossed the sea to attack the British mainland.

Although Luo Zhuoying also knew some information, it was incomplete and not detailed.

After hearing this, Luo Zhuoying slapped his thigh and said, "So that's what's going on.

I just want to say that those British senior officials must be mentally ill.

If so many local veterans are withdrawn, how can we maintain the combat effectiveness of the army here?

It turned out that their hometown was almost lost.

In that case, it makes sense for them to do so.”

“Besides, in the later stages of the battle, you clearly had the opportunity to stop Yamashita Tomoyuki’s 25th Army from retreating.

Why give up?

You can obviously pursue, why give up? "

Ye Qingshan continued to ask.

The casualties were figured out, but in the later stages of the battle, a series of orders from their headquarters also left Ye Qingshan confused.

His intuition told him that there was definitely something fishy going on.

As expected, Luo Zhuoying looked at Ye Qingshan and sighed: “Old Ye, this matter is even more complicated.

In the later stages of the campaign, General Stilwell and I and others all felt that...

We cannot keep the Japanese 25th Army, and the cost of forcing them to stay will be too high.

Since the Japs want to retreat, just let them go.

We took advantage of the situation to seize the remaining areas in southern Myanmar, thus completing our goal before the start of the campaign.

To annihilate the 25th Japanese Army and capture southern Burma is asking too much.”

After listening to it, Ye Qingshan thought for a moment and shook his head: "Lao Luo, you only said part of it.

There are some things you didn’t tell me.”